Friday 27.2: Squats, Deadlift, Metcon + Rowing metcon

Friday. AM: Back squat emom singles up to 142.5kg. Deadlift 10-10-8-6 (max 177.5kg). Metcon, 7min amrap of: 7 ring dip, 12 t2b. Result, 7rds. PM: Metcon, 5rds of: 500m row, 6 power snatch (42.5kg), 9 hspu. Time, 17.37

This Friday I went to work for the evening shift so I had plenty of time in the morning to work on my posterior chain. Squats were followed by some Friday deads. I was quite done after them but there was still one short metcon to finish the session. After work I went back to the gym with the intention of rowing. It changed to a metcon consisting of rowing, snatches and hspu's, a good one.

It's work time!

Strength. Result, 142.5kg

• Every minute on the minute
• Back squat singles
• Start at 60, add 10kg until you reach 100kg, then add 2.5kg per minute

I watched the Crossfit Open live announcement for 15.1 in the morning and the battle between Froning and Fraser. What a dog fight! it's gonna be hard on your grip for sure if you're participating in the Open. Three pulling movements is horrific. And once your grip is gone, it's sick to grab a barbell for 1 rep max on the clean and jerk. Anyway, as I drove to the gym, I started feeling super dizzy and for a while I thought if I had to skip the entire session. It took half an hour to get my shit together but once I got, it was all good from there on. It was time to squat and pull for strength.

I really like the idea of emom workouts for strength too. You gotta keep on moving because the time is ticking away. Today I did emom singles except in the beginning I took multiple reps on the lighter weights (<100kg). After 100kg I added only 2.5kg per minute whereas the first jumps were 10kg per round. Those were for warm-up.

The barbell felt heavier than normally. Maybe that dizziness had its effect but the barbell started feeling towards heavy at around 120kg. On video those look like okay lifts but the feeling inside was a bit different. At some point I thought I'd be happy to complete 130kg. Somehow I was able to battle through the rep of 142.5kg, and then failed the 145kg.

Pulling.

• Deadlift 10-10-8-6 (105, 125, 157.5, 177.5kg)

I'll try to have one pulling day every week. This movement has been non-existing for a long time but in the last month or so I've been able to incorporate it back in the schedule. And it's been great. Today was another session to build up to heavy sets. Starting at low weights building up with rather big jumps. The last set was 85% of 1RM (210kg).

I took the first 3 sets up to 157.5kg touch'n'go style. And those felt great. I've found a way how to have a neutral head and this I've been able to engage my hammies much more compared to my technique before this change. By having neutral spine / neck line it's somehow easier for me to drop my butt on the way down.

Today was probably the first time ever I was pulling without having any tape on my hands. I've tried to get used to having no tape whatsoever in my hands except for the thumb tape of course. My hands have traditionally been very sensitive to barbell work, especially the pull-up bar, that's the worst. If I don't wear any tape, my palms / calluses with get ripped off every single time. I've scissored those calluses on a regular basis and that has really helped. Anyway, it hurt like hell today with no tape in my fingers when I was pulling the last set. It was simply too much, I couldn't have taken it tng anymore. I'm still happy on the deads today!

Metcon. Result, 133 reps (7 rounds)

• 7min amrap of:
• 7 ring dip
• 12 toes-to-bar

This was a quick workout in the end, hoping to get my heart beat up. Okay, in the beginning it did but then as I had to start breaking it up, heart rate settled down too. Ring dips were unbroken in the beginning but then I had to cut them, mostly in 2 parts. T2b's were similar, ub in the beginning but soon they got to 2 sets, and in the beginning even 3 parts. It was great to have both elements in the metcon but there was no chance I could have gone unbroken with these movements.

Recap of the training day

Metcon. 17.37

• 5 rounds of:
• 500m row
• 6 power snatch, 42.5kg
• 9 handstand push-up

In the evening I took another session with rowing on my mind. I add snatches and hspu's in the mix too. I wasn't outraging on this one but took a solid and stable pace from the beginning till the end. Rowing was somewhere between 1:45 - 1:50 all the time, snatches and handstand push-ups were unbroken for the entire workout. I took my time in the transitions, no panic, catch a breath and do the work. Really good combination of movements.

My warm-up was quite hasty so those snatches were a bit heavy in the beginning. Soon I got a hold of them. Hspu's were the easiest part of this metcon. Luckily those have gotten together pretty strong eventually. I'm very confident on this element nowadays.